H i t c h

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Summary:
Are you a nerdy and shy guy who is looking for a way to win the heart of the woman of your dreams?  If so, contact Alex Hitchens, the man who can make it happen for you. He can do everything right for you to make the girl notice you, but when it comes to his own life, he has slightly bigger issues.  Just like J-Lo had in The Wedding Planner!  I know that's not funny.

Review:
I missed this one in theaters, but I wasn't going to see it alone.  That would have been depressing.  Instead, I sat home alone in front of my TV watching it, but that doesn't make things so bad.  
I very much enjoyed Hitch. I actually think that Will Smith is a funny guy, and this is precisely the kind of role that shows off his sense of humor appropriately. He comes off as a charming and respectable guy in real life as well, and so his charm seems very natural onscreen. Eva Mendes is a hotty, and although she's not quite my style of hottness (not just because her face is almost endlessly oily either), I give her props regardless. She's also managed to impress me in most of what I've seen her in, and she was the cutest and funniest part of Stuck On You, so I wasn't taken off guard when I was convinced that she's a lovely woman after watching this film, either. Kevin James was pretty funny, and Amber Valletta also did good with what she had to do, so overall the essential cast members managed to make this a romantic comedy worth watching performance-wise.
However, a good cast can only carry a movie so far, and luckily Hitch doesn't fail as often as it scores in the laughs department. I love the opening scene, it was pure brilliance. I continued to get some hearty laughs throughout, and there were only a few scenes that were too common for an easy giggle that didn't work for me. One was the dancing scene - fat white boy can dance, hahaha yuck yuck... uhm, no - and another key comedy shtick that failed for me was Alex's allergic reaction to food scene. That was an overboard makeup display that was almost comparable to Martin Short's bee sting in Pure Luck. Not funny.
It's hard to gauge what the majority of an audience will appreciate in comedy. I feel that comedy is an extremely difficult category of filmmaking, because the triggers for laughter are so subjective from one person to another that it's nearly impossible to please everyone all the time. Timing, delivery, and the setup are all major factors leading to the effectiveness of a punchline.
When watching a high profile romantic comedy, it's virtually impossible to expect a different series of events from opening to close between the romantic leads than in any other romantic comedy. I'm sure you can guess from frame one what happens between Alex and Sara, but that's not what's important. The romantics in the crowd will want a happy ending, but not without the idea that things won't work out between them near the end, and then within the last ten minutes everything comes together. What's truly important is HOW the events unfold, and whether you really feel that these people have connected emotionally enough for you to think they are deserving of being together. I thought that all the couples in this movie are cute in their own way, and so I was more than willing to let the movie take me to whichever direction they wanted in the third act, and I especially respect movies that actually throw a curve ball here and there in the formula. Sleepless in Seattle was interesting because the two leads don't even meet each other for almost the entire film. I also loved Jerry Maguire, and that's because Cameron Crowe can write dialogue that convinces you these are real people. Hitch is effective because of the clever concept of the way Alex can show the dorks that even THEY might have a chance with a hottie given the right circumstances, and the fact that everyone is so likeable you can't help but hope for the best for them. Not only that, Hitch's monologues about the rules of dating, and his explanation on women's body language rings very true, so it adds a level of merit to the movie's credibility when you believe that Hitch's tactics might actually work because of his knowledge of female behavior. If there's a hiccup or two along the way with shoddy dialogue that's impossible to believe, such as when Alex and Sara first meet, well I'll let it go. It's delivered nicely, and it does show that Alex has got class to spare. If I expect this movie to end a certain way, and it doesn't, well hey that's fine; I enjoyed the ride overall!
I am not going to say if my expectations for the storyline go as planned, because there's always the chance that it doesn't, and a new twist or unexpected finish will put an even bigger smile on my face. Expect the unexpected, I say. :)

For those looking for a great date movie, or something that is just plain funny, I recommend Hitch. It's one of the few comedies that I didn't see in theater and kinda wish I had. I understand why this one made so much money; it actually works!

GRADE: B

Reviewed 6/25/05